SOCIAL FORESTRY NETWORK

SOCIAL EQUITY AND SOCIAL FORESTRY IN JAVA:PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM FOUR CASE STUDIES

William Sunderlin (Editor)Ananda Artono

Sri PalupiRochyana

Ellya Susanti

S)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))Network Paper 10a

Summer 1990

William Sunderlin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Rural Sociology at Cornell University, Ithaka,New York, USA. He is presently doing field work for his doctoral thesis on social equity and reforestationin the Java Social Forestry Programme. This work has been made possible through a grant from the FordFoundation.

Rochyana, Ellya Susanti, Ananda Artono, and Sri Palupi worked as research assistants for WilliamSunderlin between April and October 1989. They worked, respectively, at Location A in West Java,Location B in Central Java, Location C in Central Java, and Location D in East Java. They each receivedtheir undergraduate degrees in 1989 from the Bogor Agricultural University in Java.

This paper draws on a longer report written by the authors for the Centre for Development Studies atBogor Agricultural University. Readers wishing to obtain a copy of that report should write to: Centre forDevelopment Studies (PSP - IPB), Jalan Widuri 5, Bogor, Indonesia.

Please note that we have chosen not to identify the names and specific locations of the four sites studied.Instead, we have identified the sites by letters (A, B, C, and D) and the provinces where these sites arelocated.

SOCIAL EQUITY AND SOCIAL FORESTRY IN JAVAPRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM FOUR CASE STUDIES

William Sunderlin (Editor)

Ananda ArtoñoSri PalupiRochyana

Ellya Susanti

ABSTRACT

Case studies at four social forestry sites in Java illustrate a range of equity problems that require furtherinvestigation.

Analysis of participant selection at the sites shows that a 1986 mandate to prioritize involvement of thelandless and the land-poor was not implemented. Reasons for non-implementation include: lack of needto enforce the mandate due to lack of competition for land at the site; overriding of the mandate bylongstanding performance-based participant selection criteria; and ignoring of the mandate.

Overall, there is a lack of rigour in implementing the mandate. Though forestry field personnel showedsome awareness of the mandate, there were insufficient training or guidelines for its implementation andinadequate systems of accountability to assure compliance. Improvements in training, guidelines, andsystems of accountability are proposed as a means to remedy these deficiencies.

Analysis of plot distribution among project participants suggests the utility of the lottery system, even incases where it appears unnecessary.

1 A m o n g t h e n o t a b l e c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o t h i s a r e a o f t h o u g h tare Leonard et al. (1989), Durning (1989), Blaikie and Brookfield (1987), and Blaikie (1985).

2 O f c o u r s e , t h e r e a r e o t h e r a g e n t s o f f o r e s tdestruction, including timber companies. The role of the rural poor in forest destruction is highlighted in this report becauseof its special relevance to the research.

3 S e e t h e l i t e r a t u r e o n C P R m a n a g e m e n t . A n o t a b l e r e c e n tcontribution is Bromley and Cernea (1989).

4 A s i d e f r o m t h e S o c i a l F o r e s t r y P r o g r a m m e d i s c u s s e d i nthis paper - that is to say the 'Perhutanan Sosial' programme initiated jointly by Indonesia's State Forest Corporation andthe Ford Foundation in 1986 - there are other programmes in Indonesia which can be classified under the term 'SocialForestry'. For more information, see Junus Kartasubrata (1988), 'Review of Community Forestry Programmes in Indonesia',Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia.

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I. RESEARCH OVERVIEW

1. Why research social equity in connection with social forestry?

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition among development thinkers of the need to considersocial equity in connection with sustainable development planning. At the heart of this change is anunderstanding that poverty is one key cause of environmental destruction, and that in order to makesignificant progress toward environmental stability and sustainability, standards of living must be raisedfor those in the bottom strata of society.1

The development philosophy just described applies with special force in the context of watershed andforest protection and attempts to increase forest production in developing countries. It is known that asubstantial fraction of forest destruction in developing countries is caused by small farmers and shiftingcultivators seeking new land for farming (Allen & Barnes, 1985).2 Other forms of forest damage that mayinvolve the rural poor include the gathering of fodder and wood for fuel at unsustainable rates, burningforests for the purpose of creating grazing land, and the pilferage of timber for sale on the market. Highrates of rural population growth and the lack of employment in both rural and urban areas are alsocontributing factors to the process of deforestation. Perhaps most importantly, forest areas in developingcountries are often de facto open access resource areas, and individual resource users have no incentiveto exploit the resource in a sustainable manner.3

Rural development projects aimed at increasing employment and the social wage can help alleviate theseforms of deforestation. To the extent that substitute income sources are found and living standards areraised, reliance on destructive forest uses by the rural poor can be minimized. Also, if forest resource usersare given limited rights to forest products and involved in forest management decision making, they willhave incentives to help protect the forest and manage it for sustainable production.

Social Forestry is one among a number of policy measures in Indonesia which embraces povertyalleviation as a means to environmental protection. Social forestry is designed to promote forestdevelopment and watershed protection on state forest lands by raising social welfare in surroundingvillages. In the Java Social Forestry Programme,4 initiated in 1986, the increase in welfare is to be achieved

5 T h e S t a t e F o r e s t C o r p o r a t i o n o f I n d o n e s i a ( P e r u mPerhutani) is a semi-autonomous, parastatal sub-division of Indonesia's Ministry of forestry. It is responsible for themanagement of most production and protection forest lands in Java. The Corporation derives its income from the harvesting,processing, and selling of forest resources from state lands.

6 T h e F F G i s a l s o i n t e n d e d a s a f o r u m f o r p r o b l e m -solving and as a vehicle for the creation of savings and loan funds for participants.

7 P l o t s i z e v a r i e s c o n s i d e r a b l y a c c o r d i n g t o t h e q u a l i t yof soil in a given project and to the size of the family labour force working the plot.

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by increasing the total productivity of currently degraded forest lands through reforestation, as well asincreasing the share of forest resources allocated to local communities and the length of entitlement tothose resources. Other key goals of the Java Social Forestry Programme are to alleviate longstandingconflicts over control of forest resources between forestry officials and forest area communities, and toserve as a means of protecting the timber revenue base of Indonesia's State Forest Corporation (SFC).5

The Java Social Forestry Programme is being implemented throughout the island of Java, where the SFChas jurisdiction over the management of production forest lands. In recent decades, these forest areas havebecome increasingly degraded, to a large part due to the kinds of socio-economic pressures describedabove. Java amounts to only 6 percent of the total surface area of Indonesia but is home to 60% of itspopulation -that is, more than 100 million people. At an average of 788 people per square kilometre, Javahas one of the highest population densities of any place in the world. Of Java's 13.2 million hectares, 22%are classified as 'permanent forest'.

Social Forestry in Java is carried out according to the following basic guidelines. A group of farmers isgiven usufruct rights to an area which they then plant with reforestation trees. The farmers are allowed toplant agricultural crops (both annual and perennial) between rows of reforestation trees with the agreementthat they will nurture and protect the main tree/timber species. The SFC retains full ownership of thesetrees. The project participants must form into a Forest Farmer Group (FFG). Approximately monthlymeetings of the FFG facilitate extension services and are designed to promote 'bottom up' planning andautonomous direction of the project by the members of the FFG.6

Usufruct rights are subject to renewal on a year by year basis. It is assumed that as the tree canopy closesand shades out agricultural crops, participants will either derive incomes from shade tolerant crops grownin the understorey or from horticultural crops that make up part of the canopy with the main species, orthey will move to a new forest farming site if it is available. The roughly 0.25 hectare plot for eachparticipant household is intended to provide a complementary income -that is, the plot is meant to be largeenough to provide a substantial improvement in household income, but not so large as to create a highlevel of dependence on the project.7 Because the social forestry programme was in part justified as a poverty alleviation strategy, the SFCproposed guidelines in 1986 aimed at prioritizing the involvement of the landless and the land-poor inSocial Forestry projects. In 1986, a 'letter of instruction' was sent to Forest District offices urging thatlandless and land-poor farmers be given priority access to social forestry sites. The SFC's Guide to theImplementation of Social Forestry (1988:7) states that 'candidate members from the nearby forest villagewill be prioritized according to the following criteria: low level of income, insufficient farmland,landlessness, ability to work in the forest, possession of special skills, and other criteria based onagreement'.

With this mandate written into its guidelines, the Java Social Forestry Programme is, at least on paper, anexample of equity-minded sustainable development planning. It remains to be known, however, how well

8 I n c o m m o n u s a g e , ' t u m p a n g s a r i ' r e f e r s t o a nagroforestry reforestation scheme which was established prior to social forestry in Java. At 'tumpang sari' projects, usufructrights are from two to four years and participants work independently rather than as part of a Forest Farmer Group.In the original, strict meaning, 'tumpang sari' is a forest land use technology and not a forest management programme.'Tumpang sari' technology is known as 'taungya' in other countries. The Java Social Forestry Programme incorporates amodern version of this technology called 'integrated tumpang sari'. For information on the various versions of 'tumpang sari'used in Java since 1883, see Junus Kartasubrata (1989), "Agroforestry Systems and Technologies in Indonesia", paperpresented at the Seminar on Agricultural Change and Development in Southeast Asia, Nov. 20-23, Jakarta, Indonesia.

9 P e r s o n a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h S u w a r n o , c o o r d i n a t o r o fCentral Java Social Forestry Programme, August 25, 1989.

1 0 T h e s e c o n d c e n t r a l q u e s t i o n o f t h e r e s e a r c h p r o j e c t i s :How does the variable socio-economic status of participants relate to the fulfilment of project goals -among them,reforestation, reduction of environmental degradation, raising of living standards, and alleviation of tension between the SFCand villages near state forest areas? This report examines the first question, but not the second because much of the datarelated to the second question has not yet been collected or processed. Given the restricted scope of this report, thediscussion on methodology, which follows, will concern itself only with the first research question.

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this mandate is being implemented, and also in what way the social status of project participants is relatedto fulfilment of the multiple goals of the project.

Some problems include structural or institutional obstacles to the participation of the poor. The poorestfarmers sometimes depend on daily wage labour for their livelihood and thus cannot expend the timerequired to participate in social forestry (Bratamihardja, 1989:7). In some cases, poor farmers are not ableto provide the required inputs, especially the initial labour involved in site preparation. In other cases,participation by better off farmers has impeded participation by poorer farmers. For example, research attumpang sari projects (Peluso, 1986:32-33) showed that, in many cases, better off farmers could acquirepreferred plots through economic or political power in the village, close relations with foresters, or throughpay-offs.8 In some cases, better off farmers bought access to reforestation plots from poorer farmers.

Perhaps the most important obstacle is the orientation of forestry field personnel. Many are still notconscious of the reasons for prioritizing the poor nor of the means for doing so. Some hold the view thatthe poorest rural inhabitants, as a general rule, are either incapable of or unwilling to be responsibleparticipants at social forestry project sites.9

2. Objective of the research project

One of the two central questions of the research project is: How does the socio-economic status of socialforestry project participants compare with the status of non-participants in the vicinity of the four sitesbeing researched?10

In answering this question, it can be known to what extent the poor have been given priority access toforest land. A key adjunct question is: How was land in the project distributed? The equity outcome isdetermined not just by who is chosen, but how the land available for reforestation is divided.

1 1 T h e t w o p o o r s o i l s i t e s ( A & C ) a r e n o t e q u i v a l e n t t oeach other in soil quality. Likewise the two good soil sites (B & D) are not equivalent to each other in terms of soil quality.On an absolute scale of soil quality for agricultural crops, the case study sites might be classified roughly as follows:Location A - poor-fair; Location B - fair-good; Location C - poor; Location D -excellent.Two teak and two non-teak sites were chosen on the assumption that this might reveal a contrast in the amount and qualityof extension services between teak and non-teak sites. Teak is the source of more than 90% of the SFC's income. Thisassumption was not borne out.

1 2 I n ' A r e a I ' , a l l h o u s e h o l d s w e r e i n t e r v i e w e d w i t h acensus and all participant households were interviewed with a questionnaire; a representative sub-sample of non-participanthouseholds in 'Area I' was also interviewed with a questionnaire. In 'Area II', our aim was to interview with a census andquestionnaire a sub-sample of participant and non-participant households. The representativeness of the samples in 'AreaB' varied greatly among sites because of time constraints and unique local conditions.

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3. Methodology

a. Site Selection

Four sites were selected to serve as individual case studies and to serve as a basis for comparisonamong sites. The sites were chosen according to certain contrasting features, on the assumption thatthis would provide insights on the key questions being investigated.

Two sites were chosen because they had relatively better soils (teak location B and damar locationD) and two were chosen because they had relatively poorer soils for agricultural purposes (teaklocation C and damar location A).11 It was assumed that the richer soil sites would attract both poorand non-poor farmers alike, whereas the poor soil sites would attract mainly poor farmers.

For purposes of having as reliable a basis of comparison as possible, it was judged important thatall projects be started in the same year. All of the chosen sites were started in 1987, the first year ofprogramme expansion beyond the original 13 pilot project sites. It was deemed important that thesites should not be more recent than 1987 so that there would be time for the projects to mature andhave their strengths and limitations revealed at the time of the research.

It is not assumed that the four sites researched are a representative sample of all social forestry sitesin Java. This is because four sites are too few to represent the more than three hundred sites thatcurrently exist. Moreover, a rather large sample would be necessary to represent social forestry sitesin Java because there is so much variability among sites. The four sites chosen serve merely asillustrative case studies.

b. Target Population

Because it was not possible for us to gather data on all relevant households in all relevant villages inthe area of each project site, we established two levels of concentration. 'Area I' is the village sub-section, village, or villages closest to the project site, and 'Area II' is the village sub-section, village,or villages furthest from the project site. In this research, we devoted most of our attention to 'AreaI'.12

1 3 A t L o c a t i o n A , t h e r e h a s b e e n n o s e r i o u s c o n f l i c tbetween the SFC and the community. There has been no unauthorized occupancy of forest land and damage to the foresthas been relatively minor.

1 4 S e v e n h u n d r e d r u p e e s i s e q u i v a l e n t t o U S $ 0 . 3 8 a t t h ecurrent exchange rate.

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II. CASE STUDY FINDINGS

1. Location A in West Java

a. Site History and Characteristics

A social forestry pilot project was established at location A in 1986 on a 25 hectare damar site. In1987, an additional 35 hectare damar site was established nearby. The second, 1987 site is the subjectof our research.

Though there have been tumpang sari sites in the area since the 1960s, dependence on the forest forhousehold income is rather low in comparison to the other three sites. Social Forestry wasintroduced not as a means to alleviate tension between the SFC and local villagers, as at many sites.13

Rather, Social Forestry was introduced anticipating that the low level of income in the area wouldeventually lead to pressure on area forests. Most area farmers have less than 0.25 hectares offarmland or no land at all. approximately one quarter of households in 'Area I' depend on incomefrom a nearby tea plantation for their living. Wages at the tea plantation are very low -about 700rupees per day.14

c. Distribution of Plots

The aim in the distribution of plots was for households to define the boundaries of a plot accordingto the size of their family labour force. There were problems resulting from the fact that this plotdistribution system was conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who came first tendedto get the largest and most fertile plots while those who arrived last tended to get the least fertile plotsand sometimes got plots that were smaller than their family labour force.

Among those who arrived late were several people who decided not to work the plots that were leftto them because the land was judged to be inadequate. Among respondents who complained thatthe process of plot distribution was unjust, most were land-poor and landless farmers.

1 5 C e m p l o n g a n i s a s y s t e m o f r e f o r e s t a t i o n u s i n g h i r e ddaily-wage labour. The labour is used for planting and maintaining reforestation trees. There is no farming between rowsof maintree/timber trees.

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2. Location B in Central Java

a. Site History and Characteristics

A Social Forestry pilot project was established at Location B in 1986 on a 15 hectare teak site. In1987, an additional 25 hectare teak site was established nearby. The second, 1987 site is the subjectof our research.

The vast majority of households in the area of Location B rely on agriculture for a living. Most ofthese households are involved in forest farming, whether at a tumpang sari project or in a SocialForestry project. The relatively high dependence on forest land in the area results from the increasingneed for agricultural land in combination with high population pressure.

Tumpang sari was introduced to the area in the 1960s as a means to alleviate uncontrolled tree fellingand wood gathering. Wood was being gathered as a source of supplementary household income.From the late 1970s through to 1983, the SFC did not establish any new tumpang sari sites in thearea of Location B. In 1983, the SFC resumed opening forest land for tumpang sari projects becauseof excessive wood gathering, an increase of wood theft and forest fires, and the failure of labour-based community reforestation projects (cemplongan).15

Social Forestry was introduced in the area of Location B in response to continuing appeals foradditional forest farmland. It was felt that Social Forestry could help alleviate the forest farmlandshortage by providing an extended period of forest farming in comparison with tumpang sari.

b. Selection of Participants

The selection of participants at the 1987 expansion site is closely related to the selection ofparticipants at the 1986 pilot site. This is because - owing to the small size of plots at the 1986 site-participants in the 1986 site were offered priority access to land at the 1987 site. 56 of the 66participants at the pilot site acquired land at the 1987 site.

The selection of participants for the 1986 pilot project must be discussed because it represents theoriginal history of the selection of participants at the 1987 site. The 1986 pilot project site was openedas a tumpang sari site prior to its designation as a Social Forestry pilot project. As there was noequity mandate governing participant selection at tumpang sari sites, a significant number of farmersentered who neither were neither landless nor land-poor. Many of these farmers then becameparticipants at the 1987 site.

With land left over after participants of the 1986 site had selected parcels at the 1987 site, 16 newparticipants were added. The new participants were chosen by the heads of the FFGs and an SFC

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forester, on the basis of an agreement between the project membership and the SFC. Generallyspeaking, those who were chosen as participants were friends and neighbours of the heads of thethree FFGs. Though most of the 16 were in fact poor, this might only be an incidental outcome ofthe selection process.

There was some displeasure at the way the additional 16 participants in the 1987 site were chosen.This was because there were some people who had tried to apply to enter the project, but were toldthat only participants of the 1986 project would be admitted as participants in the 1987 project.

c. Plot Distribution

For the most part, plots at the 1987 site were allocated through a lottery system. There are severalpeople who obtained plots in ways other than through the lottery system. These people are the headsof the FFGs, the SFC forester associated with the project, the village chief, and several of theadditional participants who joined because there was unclaimed land.

The heads of the FFGs, the SFC forester associated with the project, and the village chief wereallowed to choose their own plots before the lottery was carried out. In the case of the heads of theFFGs and the SFC forester, this functioned as compensation for their work in the service of theproject. The plots received by additional participants were allocated directly by the heads of theFFGs.

There were no reported problems with this process of plot allocation. All participants interviewedstated they were satisfied with the process as conducted. Each participant was able to get a plot withan average size of 0.25 hectare. Exceptions were the heads of the FFGs and the SFC forester, whoseplots were approximately 0.40 hectare, and the additional participants, whose plots wereapproximately 0.125 hectare.

3. Location C in Central Java

a. Site History and Characteristics

A teak social forestry site was established at Location C in 1987 as a means to address problems ofteak theft, excessive wood gathering, uncontrolled grazing, and failed reforestation efforts by othermeans. Trees planted through the cemplongan and tumpang sari systems had a relatively low rateof survival. Through social forestry it was hoped that the incomes of participant households couldbe raised and that cut and carry fodder could be grown at the site in order to limit uncontrolledgrazing.

1 6 T h e r e i s w i d e r s p a c i n g b e t w e e n t e a k t r e e s a t s o c i a lforestry sites (6 x 1 metres) than at tumpang sari sites (3 x 1 metres). With the wider spacing at social forestry sites, theteak canopy does not close as fast and participants are able to obtain better agricultural crop yields over a longer periodof time. Because they can obtain a better income in Social Forestry, participants are more likely to cooperate in SFC-mandated tree maintenance tasks.

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Growth rates of the fodder crop (Setaria grass) at the site have been disappointing, but the othergoals of the project are being met. In spite of variable soil fertility among the plots, there has been,on the whole, a rise in household income for participants. The teak reforestation trees are growingwell in comparison with survival rates at nearby tumpang sari sites,16 and rates of teak theft in thearea have declined significantly. SFC foresters believe that the drop in teak theft is a result of severalfactors, among them: the success of the social forestry project in raising household incomes andovercoming past tensions between villagers and the SFC; the inclusion of people from thecommunity in the forest work force; well-organized night patrols; and a working relationshipbetween the SFC and the village chiefs and police.

In the area of Location C, agriculture is the primary source of income. Many area residentssupplement relatively low yields on poor soil with part-time or seasonal labour. Among the moreimportant sources of non-agricultural income are labour in the areas of oil drilling, construction, andharvest processing, and petty commerce.

b. Selection of Participants

Participants in the Social Forestry project were selected in a two-stage process. First, a decision wasmade that past participants in a tumpang sari project that had once existed on the same tract of landwould be given priority to become participants in the new Social Forestry project. 47 participantsentered the project through this offer.

Second, it was decided that those who had had plots larger than 1.0 hectare in the tumpang sariproject would have their plot reduced in size in the Social Forestry project. This freed land at the sitewhich was then made available to 11 additional participants.

As demand for land in the project was not excessive, there were no stipulations as to who could orcould not become a participant in the project. All interested parties were admitted, regardless of theirsocio-economic status.

There were only 6 land-poor (less than 0.25 hectare of owned land) and 2 landless households inArea I that were not participants in the Social Forestry project. Three of the land-poor householdshad access to tumpang sari land and three did not. One of the landless households had access totumpang sari land and the other did not. These households were interviewed, among other reasonsto know why they had not sought entry into the project. The respondents said that they did not seekentry because their household needs were already met, either from tumpang sari land, their own

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land, or from trade.

c. Distribution of Plots

Participants who had worked the land before, when it was a tumpang sari site, were free to choosetheir plots and establish boundaries among themselves. SFC foresters merely measured the plotsonce they had been established and marked the boundaries on a site map. The plots of additionalparticipants were designated through a formal process overseen by SFC foresters. These additionalparticipants later shifted boundary locations among themselves in order to adjust the area of theirplot to the size of the family labour force.

These methods of plot distribution caused no apparent problems among participants. However, therewas a tendency for those who arrived first to get the best plots.

4. Location D in East Java

a. Site History and Characteristics

The damar social forestry site at Location D is in a mountainous, rich-soil area of East Java. In thedecades prior to the introduction of tumpang sari in this area, population pressure and scarcity ofagricultural land led to increased reliance on the forest as a source of income. People sold furnituremade from local timber, timber, firewood, bamboo, and medicinal herbs. Over-exploitation of thearea forests led to conflict with the SFC.

Tension with the SFC diminished after the introduction of the tumpang sari system in the 1970s. Theincome of community members improved somewhat and there was even an increased awarenesstoward the environment. This was all the more so, in the beginning of the 1980s, when theintroduction and development of a local dairy cattle industry raised incomes.

Production on tumpang sari lands and intensification of the cattle industry were complementarysources of income. It was evident that between the two, income needs were being fulfilled becausethere was no need for additional forest clearings for tumpang sari sites until 1986. However, by 1986,some people in the community were selling off their cattle to meet their consumption needs.

The social forestry site at Location D was established in 1987. This was a time when over-exploitation of the forest was resulting in environmentally unstable conditions. The low socio-

1 7 T h e f o r e s t r a n g e r ( m a n t r i ) i s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a r a n g eof forest management activities, including reforestation and law enforcement. The forest ranger supervises the work offorest overseers (mandor) in his/her district.

1 8 C o l l e c t i o n o f r e n t a l f e e s f o r u s e o f l a n d b yparticipants in Social Forestry and tumpang sari projects is strictly forbidden by the SFC.

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economic status of the community near the forest had led once again to excessive fuelwoodgathering and wood theft. The Social Forestry Programme was introduced in an effort to arrest thisenvironmental degradation, and in an effort to increase the success rate of reforestation and increasethe real incomes of area farmers.

b. Selection of Participants

At the time before the project was begun, the forest ranger announced availability of land at the sitevia forest overseers and several appointed community members.17 The word was spread throughmeetings and house to house visits. The overseers and appointed community members weredesignated as the pemrakarsa, that is, the group of individuals responsible for selecting participantsfor the project.

Participant selection was carried out in two ways. Some people declared their interest to thepemrakarsa in order to be registered as candidates for selection, and others were approachedindividually by him through house visits.

There were two criteria in the selection of participants. The first was the applicant's ability to pay anillegal rental fee requested by the pemrakarsa.18 The second was the applicant's willingness to plantand care for reforestation trees. This second criterion was evaluated by the pemrakarsa on the basisof the performance of the candidates in past tumpang sari projects. The closeness of the relationshipof the applicant to the pemrakarsa also played a role in the selection process.

The methods and requirements in the selection of participants for the Social Forestry project atLocation D were not different from those applied in the selection of participants for tumpang sariprojects in the area. At the Social Forestry project, 60% got plots through rental payment, and 40%got plots without paying the rental fee.

c. Distribution of Plots

The distribution of plots was carried out by the pemrakarsa based on the participants' ability to pay.Those participants who paid a higher rental fee got a larger plot in a more favourable location at thesite. On the other hand, those who paid a lower fee or did not pay at all got a plot of lesser quality.

1 9 O n e h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d r u p e e s i s e q u i v a l e n t t o U S $ 5 5 . 5 5and 30,000 to 50,000 rupees is US$ 16.66 to US$ 27.77 at the current rate of exchange.

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There are thus three levels of membership resulting from this method of plot distribution:

1) Participants who paid a high fee (100,000 rupees) got a 0.25 hectare plot and a betterlocation at the site.

2) Participants who paid a low fee (between 30,000 and 50,000 rupees) got a 0.125 hectareplot. The quality of these plots varied.19

3) Participants who did not pay a rental fee got a 0.125 hectare plot at an unfavourablelocation. Exceptions were FFG managers, who did not pay the rental fee and who gotplots ranging from 0.20 to 0.25 hectares.

Most survey respondents viewed the processes of participant selection and plot distribution as bad,because they did not take social equity into account.

2 0 T h i s o b s e r v a t i o n i s t e n t a t i v e b e c a u s e s o i l q u a l i t ywithin a given social forestry project is not the only factor influencing farmers' interest in joining that project. It is known,for instance, that at some poor soil sites, there are many applicants because soil quality in the community outside the siteis even poorer than within the site.

2 1 A s t h e d a t a h a s n o t y e t b e e n a n a l y z e d , w e c a n n o t y e tsupply the number of farmers in each of these categories.

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III. ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

1. Location A in West Java

In order to carry out a meaningful analysis of equity in participant selection, we must establish whetherthere are participants of adequate means occupying plots that might have been worked by non-participants who are poor and who sought entry into the project. Our analysis of this kind shows thefollowing result.

i) At one of the sites (Location C) the process of participant selection was equitable in spite of the factthat farmers of adequate means were admitted. The number of farmers seeking membership in theproject was in balance with the amount of land being offered at the site. As such, all applicants couldbe admitted, regardless of socio-economic status. There was no need to prioritize the poor.

Location C is one of the sites in the study with comparatively poor soil for agricultural purposes.From this we make the tentative observation that at relatively poor soil sites, interest in farming atthe site may be at such a low level that the equity mandate need not be applied.20

ii) At Location A, there are some farmers of adequate means in the project, whereas there are somepoor farmers in the community who had been interested to join the project but were not able to, dueto deficiencies in the process of plot distribution.

Plot distribution at the site was conducted on a first-come, first-served basis. The process of plotdistribution thus functioned as a de facto process of participant selection. Several landless and land-poor farmers were unable to farm at the site because they were among the last to arrive and receivedplots that were judged to be inadequate. This outcome illustrates the importance of making a sounddecision as to whether or not equity criteria should be applied in the process of participant selection.

iii)At Location B and D, there are some farmers of adequate means in the project, whereas there arepoor farmers in the community who had been interested in joining the project but were not acceptedas participants.21

2 2 A t L o c a t i o n A , a n u m b e r o f r e s p o n d e n t s c o m p l a i n e d t h a tthey would have applied to participate but found out late about the availability of land at the site.

2 3 A t m o s t o f t h e c a s e s t u d y s i t e s , t h e p r a c t i c e i s t omake a verbal declaration to SFC field personnel. There is the risk of error if participant selection depends on memory orinformal record keeping.

2 4 T h e e x p e r i e n c e a t L o c a t i o n A d e m o n s t r a t e s t h a t t h i spractice may be necessary even at sites with relatively poor soil.

2 5 P e o p l e a t L o c a t i o n B o b j e c t e d t o t h e p r o c e s s o fselection of the 16 additional participants not because equity criteria were not applied, but rather because they thought onlyparticipants at the 1986 site would be allowed to participate. Public awareness of the equity mandate would assist the goalof accountability.

2 6 P e r f o r m a n c e i n t h e c a r e o f r e f o r e s t a t i o n t r e e s a t p a s tproject sites is being retained as a criterion, but is secondary to the equity criterion.

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At Location B, the equity mandate was not observed, largely because of the carry-over of pre-existing participant selection criteria. With the promise of new forest land having been made toparticipants in the 1986 site, before the equity mandate became policy, the prior 'performance'criterion for entry into the project took precedence over the equity criterion. Sixteen of the 1987 siteparticipants were to have been admitted on the basis of equity criteria, but they were admitted largelyon the basis of their relationships to people responsible for selecting new participants.

At Location D, illegal rental of reforestation plots at the social forestry site prevented theparticipation of poor farmers who would have liked to join. Rather than seek participants accordingto their socio-economic status, those responsible for participant selection prioritized farmers whowere most able to pay rent.

Although SFC field personnel at each site showed some awareness of the equity mandate, there wasno evident commitment to its implementation, nor sufficient training and guidelines for thoseresponsible for its implementation. Nor did there appear to be any widespread knowledge in thecommunity that the poor were to have priority.

In order to remedy these deficiencies, it is recommended that the following steps be taken:

I. Devise a system of participant selection that includes:

a. systematic and widespread notification of the availability of forest land and of the intent toprioritize the poor in participant selection, if necessary;22

b. formal registration of people applying to participate;23

c. guidelines for deciding whether the equity mandate should be applied, based on the number ofapplicants and a formal survey of the land available at the site;24

d. public notification of whether participant selection will be based on equity criteria, or not;25

e. participant selection guidelines which assist in determining who are the poor and which instructforestry field personnel how to combine equity criteria and performance criteria.26

2 7 A t t h e f o u r s i t e s r e s e a r c h e d , h o u s e h o l d s ( b o t hparticipant and non-participant) which relied on forest land for most of their income were mostly those owning less thanone quarter hectare of land or those having no land at all.

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II. Have training sessions for SFC personnel on the system for participant selection, includingconsciousness-raising on reasons for prioritizing the poor.

III. Improve systems of oversight and accountability with the aim of ensuring that illegal rental ofSocial Forestry land and favouritism do not take place in the process of participant selection.

In comparing participant and non-participant populations at each site, we avoided basing our analyseson landownership data alone. Landownership data is not always a reliable indicator of wealth and it isnot necessarily a reliable indicator of success or failure in fulfilling the equity mandate. For example,a disproportionately high percentage of landless and land-poor at a site does not mean that the highpercentage results from an attempt to recruit the landless and the land-poor.

At Location C, there was no effort to recruit the landless and the land-poor, and yet at that site, thereis a much higher percentage of landless and land-poor among participants than among non-participants.This higher percentage reflects the dependence of the landless and land-poor on access to forest land.27

At Location C, the high percentage of those with less than 0.25 hectare of land in the project is anindicator of high dependence of the poor on forest land in that area.

2. Distribution of Plots

There was variation among the sites in the method of distributing reforestation plots to participanthouseholds. In summary:

(1) At Location B, plots were allocated through a lottery system.

(2) At Location C, most participants had worked the land in the site previously when it was atumpang sari site. These participants, generally speaking, worked the same plots that they hadworked before. Those participants who had not worked land at the site before were allowedto choose plots from the remaining land on a 'first-come, first-served' basis.

(3) At Location A, participants chose plots on a 'first-come, first-served' basis.

(4) At Location D, plots were allocated by decree of foresters responsible for plot distribution, andthrough the transaction of plot rental. Rental prices varied according to the size and quality ofthe plot.

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At all social forestry sites, there is variation in the attractiveness of plots depending on plot size, distancefrom the farmer's home, level of exposure to sunlight, soil fertility, the presence or absence of rocks andstones, soil compaction, drainage, and slope. The lottery -the system used at Location B - is oftenspoken of by forestry officials and farmers as being the best method for assuring fairness in plotallocation.

Participants at Location B expressed satisfaction at having used the lottery system to allocate plots. Itmay be that at Location A and C, the lottery system was not deemed necessary because of the relativelylow quality of the soil in the sites and because of the relative absence of competition for entry into the projects. However, there was dissatisfaction expressedat both sites about the 'first come, first served' method for plot allocation. Perhaps the lottery systemcould have been used to good advantage at Locations A and C in order to avert tension.

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IV. SUMMARY

We found that prioritisation of the poor in participant selection did not occur at any of the four sitesresearched. This was either because such prioritisation was deemed unnecessary (Locations A and C),because other rules of participant selection were in force (Location B), or because the equity mandate wasignored (primarily at Location D and to a limited extent at Location B).

SFC officials at each site were aware of the equity mandate but in some cases did not appear to becommitted to the mandate. In all cases, they had insufficient training or guidelines for implementing thepolicy. It is recommended that training and guidelines be improved upon to remedy this problem.adequate systems of oversight and accountability would promote compliance with the equity mandate.

Soil quality apparently played a role in determining the relevance of the equity mandate at each site. Atthe two sites with comparatively poorer soil (Locations A and C), equity criteria for participant selectionwere deemed unnecessary because of apparent low interest in joining the project. At the two sites withrelatively better soil (Locations B and D), there was abundant interest in joining the project and for thatreason, equity criteria for participant selection were necessary.

At Locations A, B, and D, negative consequences resulted from not applying equity criteria in the selectionprocess. We deduced this from the fact that there were relatively well-off participants in the projects whowere farming land that might have been farmed by poorer members of the community. (These poorerpeople had had an interest in joining the project at the time it opened.) In reaching these conclusions, wewere mindful of the limitations of relying exclusively on land ownership data.

The lottery is a useful means of assuring fairness in the distribution of plots. It was used only at LocationB. If it had been used at the other locations, some disappointments might have been averted and it mighthave helped assure an equitable distribution of land at the site.

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REFERENCES

A l l e n , J u l i a C a n d B a r n e s , D o u g l a s F ( 1 9 8 5 ) . ' T h e C a u s e s o fDeforestation in Developing Countries', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 75:163-184.

B l a i k i e , P i e r s ( 1 9 8 5 ) . T h e P o l i t i c a l E c o n o m y o f S o i l E r o s i o n i nDeveloping Countries, London & New York: Longman.

B la ik i e , P i e r s and Brookf i e ld , Ha ro ld (1987) . Land Degrada t ion andSociety, London & New York: Longman.

Bratamihardja , Mul jadi (1989) . 'Socia l Fores t ry on Sta te Fores t Land ' ,paper presented at the Social Forestry Workshop for Forest District Administrators and Section Heads,Semarang, Central Java, November 7-8, 1989.

Bromley, Daniel W and Cernea, Michael M (1989). 'The Management ofCommon Property Resources: some conceptual and operational fallacies', World Bank DiscussionPaper Nº 57, Washington DC: The World Bank.

Durning, Allen B (1989). 'Poverty and the Environment: reversing thedownward spiral', Worldwatch Paper Nº 92, November, The Worldwatch Institute.

K a r t a s u b r a t a , J u n u s ( 1 9 8 9 ) . ' A g r o f o r e s t r y S y s t e m s a n d T e c h n o l o g i e sin Indonesia', paper presented at the Seminar on Agricultural Change and Development in SoutheastAsia, Nov. 20-23, 1989, Jakarta, Indonesia.

K a r t a s u b r a t a , J u n u s ( 1 9 8 8 ) . ' R e v i e w o f c o m m u n i t y F o r e s t r yProgrammes in Indonesia', Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia.

L e o n a r d , H J e f f r e y , e t a l . ( 1 9 8 9 ) . E n v i r o n m e n t a n d t h e P o o r :development strategies for a common agenda, US - Third World Policy Perspectives, Nº 11, OverseasDevelopment Council, New Brunswick & Oxford: Transaction Books.

Pe luso , Nancy (1986) . 'Repor t on Soc ia l Fores t ry F ie ld Resea rch inWest and Central Java', paper prepared for the State Forestry Corporation and the Ford Foundation,April 22, 1986.

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P e r u m P e r h u t a n i ( 1 9 8 8 ) . P e d o m a n P e l a k s a n a a n P e r h u t a n a n S o s i a l ,Jakarta, Indonesia, July 1988.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors owe special thanks to Dr. Junus Kartasubrata, Dr. Sediono M P Tjondronegoro, and Mr.Muljadi Bratamihardja at the State Forestry Corporation and to Ms Frances Seymour of the Fordfoundation, for their wise counsel and moral support during the field research.

We are indebted to all our respondents at the four research sites and to countless employees of Indonesia'sState Forestry Corporation, for their hospitality, their generous sharing of information and opinions, andtheir forbearance towards our inquisitiveness.

Our gratitude also goes to members of the support staff at the Centre for Development Studies in Bogorwho performed countless favours on our behalf.

Finally, we wish to acknowledge the kind help of the following people, who reviewed and offeredthoughtful comments on the draft of this manuscript, or on the longer report of which this manuscript isa product: Christopher Barr, Junus Kartasubrata, Frances Seymour, and Carol Stoney.